Arenite is a sedimentary

Sedimentary rock

Sedimentary rock are types of rock that are formed by the deposition of material at the Earth's surface and within bodies of water. Sedimentation is the collective name for processes that cause mineral and/or organic particles to settle and accumulate or minerals to precipitate from a solution....

 clastic rock with sand grain size

Particle size (grain size)

Particle size, also called grain size, refers to the diameter of individual grains of sediment, or the lithified particles in clastic rocks. The term may also be applied to other granular materials. This is different from the crystallite size, which is the size of a single crystal inside the...

 between 0.0625 mm (0.00246 in) and 2 mm (0.08 in) and contain less than 15% matrix

Matrix (geology)

The matrix or groundmass of rock is the finer grained mass of material in which larger grains, crystals or clasts are embedded.The matrix of an igneous rock consists of finer grained, often microscopic, crystals in which larger crystals are embedded. This porphyritic texture is indicative of...

. The related adjective is arenaceous. The equivalent Greek

Modern Greek

Modern Greek refers to the varieties of the Greek language spoken in the modern era. The beginning of the "modern" period of the language is often symbolically assigned to the fall of the Byzantine Empire in 1453, even though that date marks no clear linguistic boundary and many characteristic...

-derived term is psammite

Psammite

Psammite is a general term for sandstone. It is equivalent to the Latin-derived term arenite. Also, it is commonly used in various publications to describe a metamorphosed sedimentary rock with a dominantly sandstone protolith. In Europe, this term was formerly used for a fine-grained, fissile,...

, though this is more commonly used for metamorphosed

Metamorphic rock

Metamorphic rock is the transformation of an existing rock type, the protolith, in a process called metamorphism, which means "change in form". The protolith is subjected to heat and pressure causing profound physical and/or chemical change...

 sediments.

Since it refers to grain size rather than chemical composition, the term is used for example in the classification of clastic carbonatic limestones, as the granulometrically

Particle size (grain size)

Particle size, also called grain size, refers to the diameter of individual grains of sediment, or the lithified particles in clastic rocks. The term may also be applied to other granular materials. This is different from the crystallite size, which is the size of a single crystal inside the...

 equivalent term sandstone

Sandstone

Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...

 is not appropriate for limestone. Other arenites include sandstone

Sandstone

Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...

s, arkose

Arkose

Arkose is a detrital sedimentary rock, specifically a type of sandstone containing at least 25% feldspar. Arkosic sand is sand that is similarly rich in feldspar, and thus the potential precursor of arkose....

s, greensand

Greensand

Greensand or Green sand is either a sand or sandstone, which has a greenish color. This term is specifically applied to shallow marine sediment, that contains noticeable quantities of rounded greenish grains. These grains are called glauconies and consist of a mixture of mixed-layer clay...

s, and greywacke

Greywacke

Greywacke or Graywacke is a variety of sandstone generally characterized by its hardness, dark color, and poorly sorted angular grains of quartz, feldspar, and small rock fragments or lithic fragments set in a compact, clay-fine matrix. It is a texturally immature sedimentary rock generally found...

s.

Arenites mainly form by erosion

Erosion

Erosion is when materials are removed from the surface and changed into something else. It only works by hydraulic actions and transport of solids in the natural environment, and leads to the deposition of these materials elsewhere...

 of other rocks or turbiditic

Turbidite

Turbidite geological formations have their origins in turbidity current deposits, which are deposits from a form of underwater avalanche that are responsible for distributing vast amounts of clastic sediment into the deep ocean.-The ideal turbidite sequence:...

 re-deposition of sands. Some arenites contain a varying amount of carbonatic

Calcium carbonate

Calcium carbonate is a chemical compound with the formula CaCO3. It is a common substance found in rocks in all parts of the world, and is the main component of shells of marine organisms, snails, coal balls, pearls, and eggshells. Calcium carbonate is the active ingredient in agricultural lime,...

 components and thus belong to the rock-category of carbonatic sandstones or silicatic

Silicate

A silicate is a compound containing a silicon bearing anion. The great majority of silicates are oxides, but hexafluorosilicate and other anions are also included. This article focuses mainly on the Si-O anions. Silicates comprise the majority of the earth's crust, as well as the other...

 limestone

Limestone

Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....

s. Arenites often appear as massive or bedded medium-grained rocks with a middling- to wide-spaced preferred foliation

Foliation

In mathematics, a foliation is a geometric device used to study manifolds, consisting of an integrable subbundle of the tangent bundle. A foliation looks locally like a decomposition of the manifold as a union of parallel submanifolds of smaller dimension....

 and often develop a pronounced cleavage

Cleavage (geology)

This article is about rock cleavage, for cleavage in minerals see Cleavage Cleavage, in structural geology and petrology, describes a type of planar rock feature that develops as a result of deformation and metamorphism. The degree of deformation and metamorphism along with rock type determines the...

.

Pettijohn gives the following descriptive terms based on grain size, avoiding the use of terms such as "clay" or "argillaceous" which carry an implication of chemical composition:

Descriptive size terms

Texture	Common	Greek	Latin
Coarse	gravel(ly)	psephite Psephite Psephite is either a sediment or sedimentary rock composed of fragments that are coarser than sand and which are enclosed in a matrix that varies in kind and amount. It is equivalent to a rudite. Shingle, gravel, breccia, and especially conglomerate, would all be considered psephites. It is...  (psephitic)	rudite Rudite Rudite is a general name used for a sedimentary rocks that are composed of rounded or angular detrital grains, i.e. granules, pebbles, cobbles, and boulders, which are coarser than sand in size. Rudites include sedimentary rocks composed of both siliciclastic, i.e. conglomerate and breccia, and...  (rudaceous)
Medium	sand(y)	psammite Psammite Psammite is a general term for sandstone. It is equivalent to the Latin-derived term arenite. Also, it is commonly used in various publications to describe a metamorphosed sedimentary rock with a dominantly sandstone protolith. In Europe, this term was formerly used for a fine-grained, fissile,...  (psammitic)	arenite (arenaceous)
Fine	clay(ey)	pelite Pelite Pelite is old and currently not widely used field terminology for a clayey fine-grained clastic sediment or sedimentary rock, i.e. mud or mudstone. It is equivalent to the Latin-derived term lutite. More commonly, metamorphic geologists currently use pelite for a metamorphosed fine-grained...  (pelitic)	lutite Lutite Lutite is old terminology, which is currently not widely used, by Earth scientists in field descriptions for fine-grained, sedimentary rocks, which are composed of silt-size sediment, clay-size sediment, or a mixture of both. When mixed with water lutites often disintegrate into mud... (lutaceous)